Modelagem da distribuição potencial de lagartos Gymnophtalmídeos (Squamata, Gymnophtalmidae) no Nordeste Brasileiro.

Abstract

The Stenolepis ridleyi and Colobosauroides cearenses lizards belong to the family Gymnophtalmidae, composed of lizards known as microteiids. Both species have a distribution restricted to the Northeast portion above the São Francisco River, but are still little understood. Thus, the distribution pattern of these two species was investigated using the ecological niche modeling tool. The occurrence data were obtained in the literature and in herpetological collections and the environmental variables collected in the online database, AMBDATA. The potential distribution was estimated using the Maxent algorithm and the map was made using the QGIS 3.4.1 software. For S. ridleyi, 20 records were obtained, for the locations of Pernambuco, Paraíba, Ceará and Alagoas and the calculated model estimated as potential areas the region of Piauí, Center-North Piauí, Bahia, Chapada Diamantina region, Rio Grande do Norte in the regions of Seridó Potiguar and Alto Oeste. For C. cearenses 18 records were obtained, for the locations of Ceará and Paraíba and the calculated model estimated as potential areas the Northern region of the state of Maranhão, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte and a region in the state of Bahia, above the São Francisco River. The AUC values of the distribution model of the two species showed significant values, 0.996 (S. ridleyi) and 0.998 (C. cearenses), indicating that both models are reliable in predicting their distributions. The distribution pattern found for S. ridleyi is similar to that of the genus Acratosaura, its brother group, being related to Brejos de Altitude, which can be understood and explained by the theory of niche conservatism. On the other hand, C. cearenses presented a distribution pattern similar to that of the brother group Dryadosaura nordestina and Anatosaura, being found in Brejos de Altitude and in caatinga areas, however, its proposed potential areas should be investigated in future sampling works, because despite the high probability of occurrence proposed by the model, the species may not be present in these environments, due to geographical barriers.